William a



(No Model.)

w. A. BARNES. G ME APPARATUS.

No. 526,554. Patented Sept. 25, 1894.

WITNESSES: INVENTOH -m52z By ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. BARNES, OF NEW YORK, N.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 526,554, dated September 25, 1894.

Application filed December 23, 1893. Serial No. 494,536- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. BARNES, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Game Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in a game apparatus, and especially to an apparatus which is adapted for use in connecnection with an ordinary pool, billiard, bagatelle or other table.

The object of my invention is to produce a very simple apparatus which may be used in connection with any table as above stated, to make the apparatus so cheap that its cost will not be detrimental to the popularity of the game in which it is used, and further, to provide an apparatus which will enable as many players to participate in the game as there are balls used, and will introduce into the game a greater amount of chance than would obtain in ordinary games in which one and object balls are used.

To these ends my invention consists of a game apparatus, the construction of which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view, illustrating the apparatus in use on a pool table; and Fig. 2 is an inverted perspective view of the apparatus.

The apparatus comprising my invention, consists of a top plate 10, of any preferred and suitable shape, and which maybe of board, cardboard, or of any suitable material capable of retaining its fiat shape, and a frangible side wall 11 which is preferably of tissue paper, but may be of anymaterial capable of being broken by the impact of a ball against it or by the pressure of balls from within, as described below. I

The wall 11 is flexible, preferably, an frangible necessarily as specified, and the wall may be of any height, and as the balls to be used vary in diameter, it will be readily seen that the side strip or wall 11 may be conveniently trimmed to make it of the right height. It is secured to the top plate by past setting them up, the corner balls are picked up so that the inclosing cover, which is of a I generally circular shape, may be conveniently placed over them. It will be understood, however, that the balls may be set up in any usual way, and the inclosing frangible case or cover may be made of any desired shape, without affecting the principle of my invention.

In playing the game, the balls are set up, as described, and covered by the frangible case, the top plate 10 lying on the balls and the side wall 11 hiding them, and the balls and case or cover may then be moved around, so that the location of any particular ball is unknown. Some person then throws around to the several players balls of the usual kind whose numbers correspond to the numbers of the balls 12, and each player holds his respective ball, while one person takes the cue ball of the usual kind and shoots it against the mass of balls in the frangible case or cover; and the impact of the cue ball and the spreading of the balls 12 causes the frangible wall 11 of the case or cover to be bursted and the balls scattered over the table, and if one of them drops into one of the pockets of the table, its number is ascertained and the player who holds a similiarly numbered ball, wins the game.

Having' thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An apparatus of the kind described, comprising a top plate, and a frangible side wall secured to the plate, the whole forming a case adapted to inclose a quantity of balls, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a table provided with pockets, and balls thereon, of a frangible case adaptedto snugly inclose the balls, sustantially as described.

WILLIAM A. BARNES.

Witnesses:

G. SEDGWICK, F. W. HANAFORD. 

